Dragline bucket attachment



May 1933- P. BURKE ET AL 1,908,687

DRAGLINE BUCKET ATTACHMENT Filed March 26. 1931 IN ENTOR5 a; 0. M I ATTORNEY Patented May 16,

PANL BURKE AND BIRDSAL BLANCI-IARD, OF GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN, ASSIGNORS T0 NORTI-I'WEfiT ENGINEERING CORPORATION, G1 GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN, A 003- V PORAT'ION OF WISCONSIN DRAGLINE BUCKET ATTACHMENT Application filed March 26, 1931.

The invention relates to dragline buckets.

Vith the ordinary dragline bucket the point of connection of the drag or pulling line with'reference to the teeth of the bucket is fixed and the relationship of the forces bringing about the digging action of the bucket due to this connection cannot be varied for any particular material being handled. The object of this invention is to provide a simple, attachable means between the bucket and the drag or pulling line or cable for varying the digging characteristics of the dragline bucket so as to make a given design of the bucket conform at will to various digging conditions as they arise.

The invention further consists in the several features hereinafter set forth and more particularly defined by the claim at the conclusion hereof.

In the drawing, Fig. 1 is a side elevation view of a dragline bucket and associated parts embodying the invention, parts being broken away and parts being shown in section;

Fig. 2 is a plan View of the bucket and its associated parts,

Fig. 3 is a detail side elevation View of a dragline line and its attachment embodying the invention showing certain modifications.

While this invention is not limited to application to any particular construction of dragline bucket but is co-ncerneo with a bucket in which the cutting edge is behind and below the front end of the bucket, the bucket chosen for illustration is one similar to that shown and described in the prior copending application of Paul Burke for dragline buckct Ser. No. $40,292, filed March 31, 1930.

Referring to th drawing, the numeral 5 designates the dragline bucket having the digging lip 6 provided with teeth 6 at the bottom of the mouth of the bucket and below and back from the front end 7 of the bucket. A hoist line 8 is pivot-ally connected at 9 to the housing 10 for the dump sheave 11 ournalled therein and over which the dump cable 12 passes, said cable being connected at one end to the forward end of the bucket at 13 and at its other end to the pin 14 to which the dragline 15 is also connected. Chains 16,

'12, because of its connections with Serial N0. 525,386.

one of which has been shown, form parts of the usual hoisting bail and are respectively pivotally connected to each side of the bucket, as at 17, back of the center of gravity of the bucket and load, considered as a unit, and at their other ends to a ring connector 18 associated with the housing 10 adjacent the pivot 9. V

The dragline 15 is also connected through the pin 14 with a flexible loading bail .19, divided at the point of junction, each of these parts of the bail being of chain or cable operatively connected to the sides of the bucket.

After the bucket is filled, it may be carried by the hoistingline 8 until the spot has been reached at which it is desired to dump the contents, but so long as there is any substantial tension in the dragline 15 the dump cable said dragline and the forward end of the bucket, prevents its being dumped. However, a complete release of tension of the dragline 15 will release the dump cable 12, thus allowing the bucket to swing on the pivots 17 with the open end facing downward to dump the 0011- tents of the bucket.

W hen the bucket is in a digging position, 7

combined action of these forces. Ordinarily 7 this downward depressing of the front end of the bucket will proceed until the moment arm of the line of action of the bail chain or pulling member 19 about the tooth or lip 6 considered as a center will have decreased sufficiently so as to allow the bucket to continue to dig without'further depression of the front end.

With this action of the bucket in mind, it is apparent that the greater resistance of the material or the harder the digging the more tendency there will be to rotate the front end of the bucket downward in the manner abovedescribed. A bucket design having the bail chain hitched at a relatively short distance above the height of the lip or teeth will tend to enter difficult materials more easily than will a bucket designed to have a relatively high value of this dimension. However, for soft materials such as sand or sandy loam, it is not necessary to have a small value of this height and it is not desirable because the often abrasive nature of the material, will, in such case, tend to wear 0d the under side of the front end of the bucket more rapidly.

It is, therefore, desirable to have a simple, cheap and quickly detachable. means whereby the effective dimensions of the bucket in re spect to digging may be altered at will so that the line of action of the bail 19 with respect to the lip or teeth may be altered. Thus this detachable means may be used when the severity of digging requires it and the possible wear due to the change in pivot location may be placed upon a relatively inexpensive and easily replaced member instead of upon the front end portion of the bucket itself.

In Figs. 1 and 2 we have shown a simple form of detachable means for carrying out the invention comprising an extension member 20 requiring but one bolt or pin 21 for insertion in one of the holes 25 in the bucket for attachment to the bucket and having the pivot opening 22 for that branch of the loading bail 19 with which it is associated. Each of these extension members 20 is provided with a face 23 which forms an abutment which fits fairly closely a corresponding abutting position 24; of the front end of the bucket, thus allowing no considerable movement up or down of this extension relative to the bucket. In this form it will be noted that the attachment at 22 of the bail 19 is substantially the same height as the lower one of holes 25 for direct attachment of the bail to the bucket. However, when hard digging is met with, and the front end of the bucket depresses as described above, the moment arm of the bail with respect to the lip 6 or teeth will decrease more rapidly for the reason that the point of attachment at 22 lies at a greater distance from the lip 6 than when the bail is connected at 25 and hence moves downwardly farther for a given amount of depression of the front end of the bucket and will have the effect of reducing the effective height of the line ofaction of the pull relative to the lip of the bucket and thus the digging characteris tics of the bucket are varied to suit the digging conditions.

In the modified form of attachment shown in Fig. 3 an extension member 26 is secured to each side of the front end of the bucket by bolts or pins 27 that pass through the spaced holes 25 in the bucket and the point 28 for the attachment of the bail 19 is disposed below and in advance of the front end of the bucket thus changing the normal height 29 of the hitch to the smaller height 30 and also increasing the moment arm 31 to the longer arm 32 so that not only will this extension act to change the digging characteristics of the bucket as explained in connection with the first form but also a further decrease in height of the line of action of the bail is secured.

\Ve desire it to be unnerstood that this in vention is not to be limited to any particular form or arrangement of parts except in so far as such limitations are included in the claim.

What we claim as our invention is:

The combination with a dragline bucket having cutting edges disposed below and behind its forward end and adapted for direct connection with the pulling bail, of a detach able extension for the pivotal connection of the pulling bail with the forward end of the bucket providing a location of said pivotal connection with respect to the cutting edges of the bucket which is in advance of and betures.

BIRDSAL E. BLANCHARD. PAUL BURKE. 

